Detroit River Hawk Watch Brownstown, Michigan, USA Daily Raptor Counts: Nov 14, 2026 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Species Day's Count Month Total Season Total ------------------ ----------- -------------- -------------- Black Vulture 0 0 0 Turkey Vulture 244 1975 66273 Osprey 0 0 11 Bald Eagle 6 21 136 Northern Harrier 1 9 372 Sharp-shinned Hawk 10 72 3481 Cooper's Hawk 0 5 53 American Goshawk 0 0 0 Red-shouldered Hawk 42 160 398 Broad-winged Hawk 0 0 75181 Swainson's Hawk 0 0 2 Red-tailed Hawk 397 872 2506 Rough-legged Hawk 0 3 11 Golden Eagle 18 25 71 American Kestrel 0 0 741 Merlin 0 1 45 Peregrine Falcon 1 2 39 Unknown Accipitrine 0 0 6 Unknown Buteo 0 8 54 Unknown Falcon 0 0 3 Unknown Eagle 0 0 1 Unknown Raptor 0 0 22 Total: 719 3153 149406 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Observation start time: 09:00:00 Observation end time: 16:00:00 Total observation time: 7 hours Official Counter: Gracie Sangmeister Observers: Andrew Sturgess, Bella Maiwurm, Bill Peregord, Don Sherwood, Johannes Postma, Rosemary Brady Visitors: We welcome visitors to our site at the Lake Erie Metropark Boat Launch. We are always willing to discuss the events of the day. Let us share our enthusiasm with you. There will be busy days, that may require our full attention, but those are not that frequent, and they provide great thrills for all. We can predict good days to some degree, but the exact hour is up to the birds, so be prepared to put in some time for the best results. Pack a lunch😊 Weather: Mother�s milk indeed. The northerly winds were bountiful today, switching between WNW and NW but staying spirited throughout the day, The speed varied from ten to seventeen mph, with a fall-off after the peak at the eleven o�clock hour. The temperature broke the forty-degree barrier, but by the smallest possible margin of one degree. Cloud cover was less in the morning hours than the afternoon when cumulostratus prevailed, bringing an increasingly gloomy atmosphere. The barometer is indicating that high pressure is arriving but the skies belied that fact with an overcast wintery appearance. The flight shut down in the late afternoon but that seems to be a habit as the days get shorter. Raptor Observations: A very good day for November as we had a good flight of red-tails, which have seen weak numbers in recent years at our site. Three hundred and ninety-seven took the gold today. Turkey vultures kept their hand in with two hundred and forty-four. The red-shoulders were present and accounted for with forty-two members. Just missing the podium were golden eagles with eighteen majestic birds flying through, our highest count of the season. Sharp-shinned hawks are still on the move with ten of them spotted today. Bald eagles had six specimens fly by, although the local eagles kept us on our toes. One northern harrier made an appearance and a late peregrine falcon was spotted making a run out over the lake. Non-raptor Observations: Tundra swans were heard, and seen, flying overhead today with two flights being observed. The kingfisher was belted. A purple finch was heard in transit. The tree sparrows are making their presence known. The herring gulls seem to have become emboldened the last few days. They have been observed fighting above their weight class, making runs at both bald and golden eagles who dared to enter their airspace. A lot of passerines were seen passing through, but our vantage point does not always allow a good enough look for identification. The same applies to ducks, who were flying today, but mostly out over the lake as distant specks. We do a lot of distant-speck IDing for raptors, but their manner of flight is more easily seen and analyzed. The crows had a slow day with only sixty-two of them counted. Predictions: The barometer continues to rise tomorrow and the northwest winds will continue to blow, albeit with a bit with a bit less enthusiasm than today. Cloud cover may dampen the festivities, but we shall see. The northern winds will keep the temperatures at November levels with forty-four degrees the predicted high, with the real-feels topping out at forty. The barometer is predicted to rise over three tenths over the course of the day tomorrow, and everyone, birds included, loves a rising barometer. Whether all these factors create another day like today is anybody�s guess. We, of course, hope to see the traffic flowing again but it might be hard to match today�s count. ======================================================================== Report submitted by Andrew Sturgess (ajyes72@gmail.com) Detroit River Hawk Watch information may be found at: http://www.detroitriverhawkwatch.org More site information at hawkcount.org: https://hawkcount.org/siteinfo.php?rsite=285